During my watch last night the wind picked up and started coming from the south east. Since we were heading south there was enough angle to allow me to unfurl the head sail and give Dignity a little extra push while we motor sailed. Very soon I was able to switch off the generator and just using a small amount of push from the electric motors and sail at a respectable 4 to 5 knots. For those for those who do not know. A knot is about 1.1 miles.
As the wind increased I decided to head more west enabling the boat to speed up further and head directly towards the Galapagos which was to the south west of us. This seemed a reasonable decision to make. When Steve woke up and took over from me, he was very please to know we were sailing and at such a decent speed. When he realised we had gone off course and was moving southwest rather than south he was mighty pissed off. He had wanted to get as south as possible where the winds and currents were more favorable for sailing into the Galapagos. I thought it would be better to take advantage of the wind while we had it and get us as near to our destination as possible. Especially as the weather grip had said that winds were dropping off near the Galapagos. However if the winds had not drop near the Galapagos; my heading could have placed us in an area where currents and wind direction would have been very much against us. Steve thought the odds for us were much better going south, even if the winds should change. Although I am the admiral (master), Steve is the captain (commander) and responsible for the boat under sail. We headed south.
By the time I woke up for my morning watch, we had made good progress south, completely under sail, with no help from the motors. We would have been flying if we headed south west but we continued to play it safe for the day.
The three frigate birds that ‘s been with us for three days flew off in the morning and haven’t come back. Since Steve was feeling a little restless, he hosed down all the little presents they’d left on the deck and pulpit bars. Still feeling restless, Steve got on the VHF radio and asked if there were any vessels in the vicinity. Very quickly we got a response from another cruising boat called Sea Mist. They were sailing about ten miles away from us. After chatting to them for a little while, we realised that we’d talked to them before – in The Saints, Caribbean, just over a year ago. It’s a small world.
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